Cristiano Ronaldo: Full footage of Portugal icon's reaction to World Cup exit | OneFootball

Cristiano Ronaldo has surely played his final ever World Cup match.

Despite the evergreen Portugal star looking in incredible shape at 37 years old, it seems unlikely even by his standards that he’ll still be his country’s first-choice striker when the 2026 World Cup rolls around and he’s the wrong side of 40.

After all, Ronaldo had to settle for a place on Fernando Santos’ bench as he watched the Selecao fall 1-0 down to Morocco, leaving their ambitions in Qatar hanging in the balance.

And with the former Manchester United striker unable to make a match-saving impact off the bench, it looked for all intents and purposes that his World Cup dreams were gone forever.

Now, when you’re an ambitious athlete like Ronaldo whose gaze never veers far from the unending desire to become the very best, you just know that such a gut-wrenching reality will really have hurt him.

Besides, whether a player has or has not won a World Cup remains a massive factor in the GOAT debate in which Ronaldo makes no secret of his desire to come out on top in.

How did Ronaldo react to Morocco defeat?

As such, we shouldn’t have been surprised to see the tears welling in Ronaldo’s eyes when, like other stars such as Neymar, an early plane ticket home from Qatar was confirmed.

And while television broadcasts around the world caught snippets of the emotion rolling in for the Real Madrid icon, exhaustive footage of his post-match heartbreak has now been uploaded to social media, and to the tune of huge numbers at that.

It shows Ronaldo’s frustration as Morocco players try to console him as well as the emotions in his face slowing building up to the point of tears pouring down his face.

Seeing Ronaldo’s journey off the pitch to the tunnel images you may already be familiar with is truly heartbreaking and just goes to show how much he wanted to get his hands on the World Cup.

Video: Full footage of Ronaldo reacting to World Cup exit

Football can be a cruel, cruel sport, even if you’re one of its greatest ever players.

But kudos to Ronaldo for not bottling in his emotions and instead letting out his feelings, showing little boys and girls around the world that it’s ok to let it all out. It does, after all, illustrate the extent to which he cared.

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What did Ronaldo say on Instagram?

And in light of the crushing defeat, Ronaldo penned an emotional post on Instagram, writing: “Winning a World Cup for Portugal was the biggest and most ambitious dream of my career.

“Fortunately I won many titles of international dimension, including Portugal, but putting our country’s name on the highest foot in the World was my biggest dream.

“I fought for it. I fought hard for this dream. In the 5 appearances I scored in World Cups over 16 years, always by the side of great players and supported by millions of Portuguese, I gave my all. Leave it all out on the field. I never turned my face to the fight and I never gave up on that dream.

“Sadly yesterday the dream ended. It’s not worth reacting to heat. I just want you all to know that much has been said, much has been written, much has been speculated, but my dedication to Portugal hasn’t changed for a moment.

“I was always one fighting for the objective of all and I would never turn my back on my colleagues and my country.

“For now, there’s not much more to say. Thank you, Portugal. Thank you, Qatar. The dream was beautiful while it lasted… Now, it’s time to be a good advisor and allow each one to draw their own conclusions.”